(Cowichan Valley, BC) With five days left until Election Day, the citizens of the Cowichan Valley have managed to persuade candidates across party lines to support local control of our watershed. Today the citizens group One Cowichan released candidates’ positions on local control as it wrapped up its non-partisan campaign to bring focus to the issue.

Being new to the Valley, I wasn’t sure what to expect doing public outreach with One Cowichan on local control. I know that most people would rather not be approached with and issue while they attend an event or are out shopping.

The proposed contaminated soil dump in Shawnigan is another example of why we need local control over our watershed, or more accurately, watersheds. We need not only to defeat that proposal, but also to win the larger battle of getting local control so this kind of thing doesn’t keep happening.